It's Always Been You
by Celiza
Summary: Seth and Ryan come back for the new school year after spending the summer away from Newport Beach. Nothing will ever be the same after all that's happened but they all wish they could go back to the way things were. Major SS! RR
1. Prologue

**It's Always Been You**

By: Celiza

Rating: PG-13, just in case ;-)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not OWN Fox's The O.C. All characters were created by Josh Schwartz

Author's Note: Takes place during the summer, and well into the second season. Major S/S!

Summary: Seth and Ryan come back for the new school year after spending the summer away from Newport Beach. Nothing will ever be the same after all that's happened but they all wish they could go back to the way things were.

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**PROLOGUE**

_Seth Cohen pushed through the crowd around the coffee stand, coming face to face with Summer. Things had been off the past few days; Summer had been ignoring Cohen and he didn't know why until Anna talked to Summer. Summer told her that she didn't want to have a public relationship, because all guys eventually get sick of her and break up with her and she didn't want a breakup with Seth Cohen to ruin her reputation. Seth wasn't going to break up with her; he loved her since he was ten years old and named his sailboat 'Summer Breeze' after her. He had to let her know that. He tried jumping on top of the coffee stand where Summer and Brad were trying to raise money at the kissing booth, but soon gave up and went from a chair to standing on the kissing booth. After a few seconds of arguing for Seth to get down, he held out his hand. "Acknowledge me now, or lose me forever," he said. Summer looked back at all the faces, the snotty preps and asshole jocks whom she had gone to school with since she was little, and then looked up at Seth Cohen, the 'big dork that listens to emo'. He was different and for some reason, she was drawn to him. Summer smiled and pulled herself up onto the stand next to Cohen. And the rest was history._

Summer Roberts layed in bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She remembered a few months ago, when Seth Cohen declared his love for her. He said he wasn't going to leave. Wasn't going to go anywhere. Until everything happened and he ran away on his sail boat, leaving just a note for his girlfriend. Summer slowly pulled herself out of her bed, eyeing the "2:43" in red on the clock on her nightstand. She looked outside the nearest window, noticing the dark sky. Another night of no sleep.

She dragged herself into the bathroom down the hall and splashed water onto her face. In the mirror, she saw herself. Her eyes red and puffy from crying, her hair a mess. And all over Seth Cohen. In the beginning of the year if anyone told her she would be crying over Seth Cohen, she would simply of laughed and said "Ew, who?" But she later fell in love with his personality, his quirks and Seth Cohen. She couldn't admit that to anyone, not even him. She almost let her father break up her and Seth because Mr. Roberts couldn't picture his daughter with someone like Cohen. They made up after that though, when Summer realized that she liked Seth even if her dad didn't completely approve.

That summer was going to be time for all four friends, Seth, Summer, Ryan and Marissa to hang out. Until the news about Theresa's pregnancy came about. Theresa was Ryan's ex, whom he had slept with during the couple weeks that Ryan and Marissa had broken up. At first, Ryan wasn't going to leave Newport, and let Theresa and her mother take care of the baby alone in Chino. But Theresa couldn't have the baby alone. Ryan broke the news to the others, and Seth took it the hardest. Ryan was his only real friend. Before Ryan came to Newport it was hell for Seth. Seth had mixed feelings about everything, and so he packed up his bags and sailed away on his boat.

Summer was brought back to the present when the running water drowned out her thoughts. She turned off the water and headed back to her room. She sat on the floor next to her bed with a sigh. She grabbed Princess Sparkle off of her nightstand and then looked under her bed. It was too dark to see anything so she moved her hand around until it hit a box. She pulled the box out with two hands and opened it. Inside were several pictures of her and Cohen, some of his CDs, and other things he had left behind. Underneath everything was a letter. The letter that the Cohen's had found after Seth had sailed away on his boat. He had left one for his family and then one for Summer.

She opened the letter, and although it was too dark to see the words she mumbled it to herself. She had read it so many times that it was memorized.

"Dear Summer,  
I need to think a few things over. I'm not sure if I'm ever coming back to Newport. Without Ryan here, it will go back to the way things were before he came. And I can't handle it. I will call you though, so we can talk. I hope you can forgive me. Just know that I love you."

That last line got her everytime. She started to quietly cry as she said it over in her head "Just know that I love you". She never once said "I love you" to Cohen, but she did. She really did love him. But he was gone and she had to move on. They had just gotten in a fight this afternoon over the phone. He had called her a lot this summer but she couldn't handle talking to him. And today she finally ended it. It was time to move on or at least try.

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Hope you liked. It's just getting started, though. A lot of this was just explaining things. Please review!

Celiza-


	2. Poolside Girl Talks and Cohen's Crap

**It's Always Been You**

By: Celiza

Rating: PG-13, just in case ;-)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not OWN Fox's The O.C. All characters were created by Josh Schwartz

Author's Note: First chapter! Hope you like it. Please R/R Next chapter will most likely focus on Seth.

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**Chapter One - Poolside Girl Talks and Cohen's crap**

After having a fight with Cohen a couple of weeks ago, Summer began to hang out with Zach. He was a water polo player and hot. He was no Seth Cohen. She refused to get close to him however, but they began dating anyway. It was time to move on.

Summer awoke one morning to her phone ringing. She picked up sleepily, "Hello?"

"Oh hey Sum, it's Coop. Wanna hang out today?"

Summer agreed, she missed hanging out with Coop. Although they would probably end up talking about Ryan and what's his face Cohen, she wanted to spend some time with her friend and maybe get a tan at the same time.

Summer pulled herself out of bed and into the bathroom down the hall. After she showered, she went back to her bedroom and got changed into her bathing suit and threw some clothes on over. She looked at her floor, her Cohen box still spread out across the floor from that one night she stayed up crying and reading over his letter. She bent down and picked up everything. His CDs, his comic books, everything that he had left at her house along with a few pictures of the two of them.

She threw everything into the pink box, except the letter. She picked up the letter and put it in one of her drawers underneath a whole bunch of clothes. She picked up the box with everything inside and put it on her bed. She would deal with that later. She grabbed her purse and keys and headed over to Coop's.

The girls had been laying out at the Cooper-Nichol's poolside for a few hours. Breaking the silence with little conversations here and there.

"Ugh this bikini is so uncomfortable. I need a new one, you wanna go to South Coast?" Summer asked, fixing her bathing suit.

"Totally. There's a Paul Frank sale on Wednesday."

Wednesday? Wednesday was the day Summer had made plans with Zach, well in advance. When she was with Cohen, they never made plans before hand. Summer sighed for even thinking of Cohen, "Wednesday? I can't. I have plans with Zach."

"Ou, more plans with Zach, huh?"

Summer nodded, "Yes. The more time I spend with Zach, the less time I have to think about, God, what's his face? Built like a beanpole, curly hair, runs away like a little bitch on a sail boat leaving nothing but a note for his girlfriend who cried and cried over him until the 4th of July when she decided she doesn't cry over bitches on boats."

"Seth. His name is Seth." Marissa mentioned.

"I know, I'm just doing that thing where I pretend I don't and I have to use a lot of descriptive insults to give voice to my inner pain," Summer said with a sigh and added, "So yeah, I can't do it Wednesday."

Summer went home a little while later to find the box of Coheny things still on her bed. She knew it would still be there, obviously, but something made her wish that it wasn't. That it just got rid of itself, or if nothing would have come between them. After changing out of her bathing suit, she picked up the box and drove over to the Cohen's.

It took her a few minutes to get out of the car. She sat there with the car turned off and the box in her arms. She looked at it quickly and then stopped herself and looked the other way. She took one hand off of the grasp and began to open the door. She sighed and then stepped out of the car. She headed up towards the Cohen's front door, where she has been many times before, but somehow it was just ... different. She walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. Kirsten Cohen answered with a sad look on her face. She suddenly brightened up when she saw Summer because they had both been dealing with the same thing this summer.

"Summer, hello." Kirsten said, cracking a smile.

Summer looked down at the box, "Hey Mrs. Cohen, can I come in?"

"Sure, is everything okay?" Kirsten asked, confused.

Summer walked in, set the crate on the stairs and said, "I'm here to get over Seth."

"Excuse me?" asked Kirsten.

"Well, my therapist said the best thing I can do to move on in my life is to divest myself of all of Seth's possessions," she paused as she noticed the confused look on Kirsten's face, "I gotta dump off a bunch of his crap."

After a minute of talking, Kirsten let Summer go upstairs. As she walked up the stairs, she looked at all the pictures on the wall. One of Seth when he was a little baby. One of him at kindergarten. And every school picture up until sophmore year. Then she came to a picture taken right before Ryan left. One of the Cohen family: Kirsten, Sandy, Seth and Ryan. Summer made her way to Seth's room. The room she had been in so many times before, now empty although filled with everything Seth left behind. She thought of the time on Valentine's Day when they had danced to Ryan Adam's Wonderwall and Cohen 'sweeped her off her feet'.

>>>

_Summer appeared in Seth's room as they discussed how things should have gone slower between them._

_"..Well, what if we were to slow it down a little bit, maybe start from the beginning?" Seth said._

_"What do you mean?" Summer asked._

_Seth puts his finger up to show 'one second' as he gets up and walks over to his record player. 'Wonderwall' starts to play as he motions for Summer to dance with him._

_Summer laughed and said, "You are SO cheesy Cohen."_

_Seth smiles at her as he takes her hand, "C'mon, I'm sweeping you off your feet"._

_They begin to dance as Summer says, "Well the sad part is, you kind of are." _

>>>

The memory begins to fade in Summer's mind as she notices the plastic horse on Seth's nightstand. "Captain Oats.." she said quietly.

She walked over to him slowly and whispered, "I hope we can still be friends."

She went over to his bed and dumped the box. She looked at it one more time before she turned around and walked out the door. Closing the door, and leaving all of her Seth filled thoughts behind.


End file.
